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Townsend Sphere L22 vs Slate VMS Shootout

Serenity

Hall of Fame Member
LOL. I was mostly interested in how long it would be before Slate entered with his usual "You're holding it wrong!", "They all sound good to me!", "Chuck Norris used the VMS to combat evil terrorists!", "I am the son of God!" and so on. He made it to the first page at least!

As for the Shootout I didn't pick the same one for all of them. Preferred the VMS on the first two and the others the Sphere. It struck me that the VMS didn't sound as harsh in the high end as I've experienced it in other recordings though. I wonder if they have updated the software to include som high end filtering perhaps?
 

ronmac

Active Member
Chucky must have been out of town for a while, but a few other super heroes are down for the VMS

We've had tons of pros like Ross Hogarth, Mischke Butler, Slyvia Massy, Jay Baumgardner, Aaron Pearce, Claudio Cueni, Seal, Snoop Dogg, and many more do shootouts of VMS and real vintage mics, and they've all validated the tech.
 

drb9091

Member
Anybody hear anything about the KlangFormer? Just curious.

I have the VMS. I am replacing it with a U87ai and hardware chain with clones of 1073, 1176, 2A, plus some which to me are way way better sounding that plugins.

VMS PROS:
-For 2 mics that I compared them to, my clone 47 vs FG57 definitely had the similar characteristics (in this case, something I did NOT like, but it was there on both, disappeared with other emulations, so "wow" there. And the SM7b vs the FG7 which was spot on.
-Great for figuring out which mics you like and might want to buy, ie the 251 which I really liked.
-Bang for buck affordability for the variety

CONS:
-only 1 polar pattern, which can lack a "3D" if you use Figure 8 or Omni.
-good, but not as exciting as a real hardware chain vs Slate emulations (Neve preamp, etc)
-very noticeable sibilance on the mic. I assuaged by turning it aside or using a deesser plugin which both worked well. also trying to sing better of course when you hit Ssss.

I have a Kemper amp profiler which I am 100% convinced are the equal of any amp (and I had boutiques) I've ever owned and it's amazing every day.

The VMS didn't not have that affect on me. It produced better vocals than any mic I've had prior more consistently. It was more hit/miss with my TLM103->LA610, but when it was HIT it smoked the VMS.
The U87ai and my chain smoke the VMS, so i'm selling it now. Not because it's bad. Just because I have better. BUT that "better" did cost 4x more than the VMS & comparable plugins. So it should, haha.

No experience with the Sphere. But it does have more polar patters, so I bet it can do that 3D sound the VMS can't.
 
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